Curated OER
Ida Tarbell: Hysterical Woman vs. Historical Facts
Students examine journalism and its different styles. For this effective communication instructional activity students create an editorial message and articulate an article.
Curated OER
A Race to Watch: Campaign 2008, The Role of Technology and the Internet
Students listen to a statement about the role the Internet plays in the political process and respond by placing a card under the appropriate agree/disagree sign at the front of the room. Students brainstorm reasons to select their...
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Testing DNA and the Death Penalty
High schoolers explore issues surrounding death penalty debate and participate in a values-clarification activity to help them form their opinions on this topic. They create a talk show to discuss issues involved with DNA testing and the...
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Religious Freedom
Sixth graders examine the religious issues of the early settlers in the New World and the current issue of separation of church and state. They discuss a list of colonial laws from the 1600s, participate in a class discussion, and in...
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Jean Baptiste Pointe DuSable: Haitian Frontier Fur Trapper and Explorer
Eighth graders investigate the life and contributions of Jean Baptiste Pointe DuSable. They read and discuss an informational handout, define five words from the passage, conduct Internet research, and write a journal entry from the...
Curated OER
Tooling Around Arizona: Reading Arizona Maps
Young scholars research Arizona maps. In this map lesson, students discuss map titles, scales, directions, elevation, and symbols. The class will examine topography, landforms, and rivers found on an Arizona map.
Curated OER
All Wrapped up and Nowhere to Go
Students consider the impact of legislating exessive packaging. In this environmental issues lesson, students visit selected websites to discover information about packaging and UK laws to reduce it. Students...
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Hurricane Katrina: You Be the Reporter
Students work in a small group to create news stories, feature stories and editorials/letters to the editor and organize them in a podcast, video-based program, or newspaper/magazine focused on Hurricane Katrina.
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Holocaust Theme
Young scholars complete a unit of lessons on the events of the Holocaust during WWII. They write daily journal entries, create a collage, view and discuss videos, read and analyze novels and poetry, and complete a novel project.
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A Nation Divided
Fifth graders participate in various activities related to the Civil War. In this Civil War lesson plan students understand the events and feelings of people during the Civil War by studying primary sources, journal writing, readings,...
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Caring for the Land
Learners study soil management and issues relating to agriculture and the environment. For this agriculture and environment lesson, students define the terms farmer, environmentalist, and activist. Learners use a Venn diagram to compare...
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Grappling With War: A Discussion of the Conflict in Iraq
Students examine historical relationship between the United States and Iraq, and differentiate between fact and opinion.
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Separating Fact from Fiction
In this English grammar worksheet, students study a chart of definitions and pointers. Students then read 5 explanations as to how to separate fact from fiction.
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Strong Convictions
How can the rhetorical structure of an editorial help to develop its argument? Use this New York Times editorial to emphasize the importance of structure in a piece of informational text. Adolescent writers then use the editorial as a...
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The School Holiday Calendar
Various Muslim holidays and their meanings are researched and your students will predict whether or not they should be recognized on the New York City school calendar. An extension could be to write a letter to the Mayor about...
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Collective Poetry: Teaching Tolerance
Help your class create collective poetry following a simple, engaging model from Teaching Tolerance (tolerance.org). Each young poet writes five things on an index card: sayings from others, favorite sound, favorite place, favorite...
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How Advertisers Persuade
This plan centers around the article "How Advertisers Persuade," although it is not included in the lesson itself. Get your class thinking about advertising, appeals, and techniques that companies use to get their products from the shelf...
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Recognizing Propaganda/Bias
Middle and high schoolers examine the uses of propaganda during the Nazi era. Using examples of propaganda used by Hitler, they discuss how it changed the thinking and ideas of people exposed to it. In groups, they identify how and why...
Curated OER
Produce a Nonfiction Text
In this language arts learning exercise, students look for the facts and create several nonfiction texts while including useful information for the reader.
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Sounding Off About Impeachment
Help your middle and high schoolers reflect on the responsibility of newspapers to act as a vehicle for 'everyday citizens' to voice their opinions. Then, using an article about the first day of the Senate impeachment trial of President...
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Where Do You Stand?
Scholars assess a government's ability to intervene in personal health decisions. They research basic facts about euthanasia and describe their opinions about new legislation passed in the United States Congress about an individual's...
Curated OER
Your Right to an Attorney
An outstanding lesson on a person's right to have attorney's representation in a court case is here for your young learners of the law. Pupils read a lengthy account that spells out the laws regarding legal representation, then answer...
PBS
Does Art Imitate Life?
Write what you know, sound advice for any writer and something many famous authors are known to have done. Use these materials to explore how Shakespeare's life influenced his plays. This resource is packed with readings, video segments,...
Harry S. Truman Library & Museum
Marshall Plan: Convince the American People
This is an excellent resource for US history classes, especially AP history. After learning some background on the Marshall Plan, the class, divided into two groups, researches opposing positions on this aid program. Groups read and...